The nature and measurement of environmental literacy for sustainability

Abstract

This study begins with a discussion of environmental education. Various definitions, aims objectives and guiding principles for effective environmental education are included. The term environmental literacy is introduced with its. defmitions and three levels of environmental literacy (nominal, functional and operational). The study also provides an overview of the definitions, aims, principles and goals of sustainable development. The relationship between environmental education, environmental literacy, environmentally responsible behaviour, and education for sustainability is outlined. It appears that many teachers are not well informed about environmental concerns. Therefore, in this study an attempt is made .to develop and standardize an instrument to measure the level of environmental literacy of teachers, from both primary and high schools. Ten concepts related to environmental literacy were developed. A questionnaire was developed using these identified concepts. Content validity was established before the questionnaire was presented to the teachers. An item analysis was carried out for each aspect of environmental literacy as well as for the questionnaire as a whole. It was determined that the questionnaire could be considered as both a reliable and valid instrument to measure the level of environmental literacy of teachers. An important fmding from this study is that there is a significant difference between environmental literacy of teachers who received training in environmental education and teachers who did not receive any training in environmental education. It was also found that there is a significant difference between environmental literacy of teachers teaching in the different learning areas. The instrument developed for this study can be used as a baseline to improve the pre-service and in-service training of teachers in environmental education. The study concludes with recommendations for teacher education and empowerment of local communities through environmental education. Possible further research is also highlighted.